Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle Reading App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Comment: FREE Shipping, Prime and Super Saver! Your Order Helps People in Need! Book in Good Condition, Text Clean and Unmarked, Tight Binding, book may show some shelfwear. No Hassle Return Policy!

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products. Something we hope you'll especially enjoy: FBA items qualify for FREE Shipping and .

During the course of his military career, through World War II, Korean, and then Vietnam, Bud Day received every available combat medal, escaped death on no fewer than seven occasions, and spent sixty-seven months as a POW in the infamous Hanoi Hilton, where his roommate was John McCain. Despite incredible torture, Day would not break. He became a hero to POWs everywhere--a man who fought without pause, a prisoner at war.

But Day's story didn't end when he returned home from Vietnam. In fact, in some ways, it was just beginning. He became a passionate advocate for veterans' rights, a hero to those who served their country so bravely and selflessly. And when theClinton Administration cut veterans' medical benefits, Bud Day knew that--however weary his bones, however aged his comrades--it was time to suit up for a new battle, this time against an opponent he had never expected to face: the United States government.

"Superb....[Coram] has researched thoroughly and written fluently and with sympathy for his subject, an authentic hero worthy of many books."--Booklist

{"currencyCode":"USD","itemData":[{"priceBreaksMAP":null,"buyingPrice":12.07,"ASIN":"0316067393","isPreorder":0},{"priceBreaksMAP":null,"buyingPrice":12.14,"ASIN":"0316796883","isPreorder":0},{"priceBreaksMAP":null,"buyingPrice":15.29,"ASIN":"0312569513","isPreorder":0}],"shippingId":"0316067393::ax6V3xS%2B5a4FwSxpPUBHY7kpglo1e2pjs6W1%2FmG0XWF8yVuMDwrYsitj7R%2Bp5JTOBMN4HwRoinTCJXm3gHfPrm9wW09CNDHdj6JFwPLg198%3D,0316796883::9lFjSQSX9XECBeiNgQM8aF6GXzIp%2FtDyGff%2FQ%2FaaXyveWWHLsvZR94EVkqlvNBRm7h0eJV%2FzVnzH%2BqLF3M2KADTLKlrGcX%2BZCqSjMOTizgc%3D,0312569513::j%2FRSqAE5CNqF433muH2VqlfKhH%2B1pRz%2FKfQftbbVKnUDhQH%2BAa32U9tkOEQugU369jSc520a%2BJ9u3QmqU5Rmjikxjy1pemAMP0segOIR5wqYZ4hKwqHvDg%3D%3D","sprites":{"addToWishlist":["wl_one","wl_two","wl_three"],"addToCart":["s_addToCart","s_addBothToCart","s_add3ToCart"],"preorder":["s_preorderThis","s_preorderBoth","s_preorderAll3"]},"shippingDetails":{"xz":"same","xy":"same","yz":"same","xyz":"same"},"tags":["x","y","z","w"],"strings":{"addToWishlist":["Add to Wish List","Add both to Wish List","Add all three to Wish List","Add all four to Wish List"],"addToCart":["Add to Cart","Add both to Cart","Add all three to Cart","Add all four to Cart"],"showDetailsDefault":"Show availability and shipping details","shippingError":"An error occurred, please try again","hideDetailsDefault":"Hide availability and shipping details","priceLabel":["Price:","Price for both:","Price for all three:","Price For All Four:"],"preorder":["Pre-order this item","Pre-order both items","Pre-order all three items","Pre-order all four items"]}}

Review

'Superb...Coram has researched thoroughly and written fluently and with sympathy for his subject, an authentic hero' - BOOKLIST 'Riveting...A poignant and ultimately inspiring portrait...Day's military service tale is wide, varied, fraught with drama and jaw-dropping episodes' - AMERICAN SPECTATOR

"He is one of those people for whom everything is either black or white. It is wonderful to go through life like that."

Senator John S. McCain III

This is a story of where we get such men, what happens when the shooting starts and of a life lived in black & white - pure and simple. This is an odyssey of a Sioux City "River Rat" who became a Red River Valley "River Rat". This is a saga of a man who could have been, and might even now be, your neighbor - a fellow American.

There are some folks who are natural aviators, natural fighter pilots and natural warriors. Those of us who have been in recruiting know how difficult it is to identify such "naturals". Our psychologists, our educators, our training "experts" and our consultants all claim to have the answer and they repeatedly come up empty. The ones who come closest are the experienced Marine Drill Instructors, they know a warrior when they see one but even they find it difficult to codify it. George "Bud" Day is a natural - aviator and warrior.

The Marine Corps missed it, only because Bud spend so much time in sick bays that he never had a chance to bloom. The Army National Guard never had a chance. The Air Force never seemed to get the word despite repeated superb performance in a myriad of flying and non flying tasks from the beginning to the end of his Air Force career.

Using dedication to duty and perseverance he survived an endless progression of dead end assignments turning career ending bovine residue into promotion enhancing events.Read more ›

George "Bud" Day is the most decorated officer in the modern history of the U.S. military, having won (this is a chest seriously full of medals and ribbons) the Medal of Honor, Air Force Cross, Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal for Valor with two Oak Leaf Clusters, Bronze Star Medal for Merit, Purple Heart with three Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Medal with nine Oak Leaf Clusters, National Order of Vietnam, Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm, and Prisoner of War Medal). His military career began in 1942 when, despite being under-sized and under-age, he managed to work his way into the U.S. Marines. He served for almost three years in the South Pacific, never seeing combat. After the war he returned home and studied law, eventually graduating with a degree in that discipline. In 1950 he joined the National Guard and, when called up a year later, applied to fly fighter jets. He soon became one of America's most skilled pilots and, after being promoted, decided to dedicate his career to the Air Force.

In 1967, with the war in Vietnam raging, he was made commander of a secret squadron of F-100 jets and was tasked with Forward Air Control. It was the job of this select group of pilots to fly low to the ground and to seek out and mark targets that other jets could destroy. On August 26 of 1967, his plane was shot down and he suffered serious injuries while ejecting. He was quickly captured but escaped at the first opportunity available and became the only soldier to journey all the way to South Vietnam. Sadly, just moments from reaching the safety of American lines, he was spotted by a North Vietnamese patrol and shot in the leg and hand.Read more ›

SUGGESTION -- Be sure to set aside a block of time to devote to AMERICAN PATRIOT: THE LIFE AND WARS OF COLONEL BUD DAY. The force of Bud Day's character and the flowing clarity of Robert Coram's writing will rivet you. In the process, America's moral strength sharpened by the Great Depression and by WWII set the stage for Bud's moral triumph over his vicious North Vietnamese communist torturers for over five and a half years. Each fierce lash of the "fan belt" on Bud's bloodied backside and legs strengthened his will to defeat the murderous goons. Each minute of the rope torture and each re-breaking of his bones reinforced his understanding and practice of the military Code of Conduct for POWs.

It is difficult for those not connected with the military, especially with the patriotism of WWII warriors, to understand not only how but why Bud suffered and persevered as he did for his fellow POWs and to preserve the secrets of his former "Misty" F-100 fighter unit. The sense of the matter presents itself through the clearly packaged facts and pace of the biography and Coram's craft in bringing alive each element of Bud's development as an individual and as a military "community" leader whose service spanned three major wars: World War II, Korea and Vietnam as an enlisted Marine, Army reservist, Iowa National Guard Officer and Air Force Officer.

Our Founding Fathers knew the exceptional nature of that community and enshrined that understanding in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution by declaring Congress prescribes the rules governing that society of warriors. As a rare fighter pilot lawyer, Bud knew and practiced the legal and social bonds of the warrior brotherhood.Read more ›